‘Adoption of expenditure in Parliament shows unity’

Power, Energy and Business Development Minister Ravi Karunanayake said the adoption of President Maithripala Sirisena’s expenditure in Parliament without a division symbolizes the unity and the present state of affairs in Parliament.

He was speaking at the opening of two solar power projects in Vavuniya on Thursday. Minister Karunanayake stressed the importance of working in cooperation with all, for the benefit of the people.

Each project will add one Mega Watt to the national grid.

He said the solar power electricity generation concept was introduced to Sri Lanka a few years ago.

“The implementation of this concept in the country was very slow,” he said.

He said the solar power project would give impetus to power generation and reduce the necessity of thermal power plants.

“It is important to promote renewable energy sources. We hope to launch more solar and wind power electricity generation projects soon,” he said.

Minister Karunanayake said the government faces a challenge in providing electricity during a drought as hydro power generation is dwindling during this period.

“We have implemented a power generation plan to meet the soaring power requirement in the country,” he said.

He added that the United National Party is ready for an election anytime.

“We are confident of victory at any election,” he said. “The Tamil National Alliance has not laid down any condition to support the Budget. Our main target is to build a country where Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities live peacefully,” he said.

He added that extremists are in the habit of laying down conditions and such people don’t want to see the development of the country.